Just Goodbye For Now
by ValandMarcelle
Summary: Jack Kelly is moving on, but not without some parting words...from everyone else.


**Let's face it, this was inevitable. I mean, I couldn't ****_not_**** write something symbolic about The Unspeakable Act. I've actually had this idea for a while, but couldn't get myself motivated to write it until today...I guess it takes complete and utter sadness to get the writing gears turning. **

**But seriously. Their final curtain call video. **

**Anyway, this is hopefully symbolic, and I tried to include some references to the show in there. **

**Enjoy! **

**-Marcelle**

* * *

Jack doubts he'll ever find anyone else like his boys. He could search the entire continent, and the other six as well, but it's unlikely that he'll ever feel more at home than he does in the Lower Manhattan Newsboy Lodging House.

It has been home for years, and even when he's gone, he'll never dare place that title on any other place he ever finds himself. It would be unspeakable, and it would as sure as heck be false. Home is with the newsies. That's why it pains Jack so much that it's time for him to leave.

But he has to, he knows that he does. He's nineteen now, and while his boyish charm is still fully intact, it's proved to be less and less effective as he ages. The younger boys do well as newsies, and Jack knows that in that regard, he's past his prime. He's had a good run, though, a great run.

He's taken care of the boys well, practically raised them, and it does his heart proud to know that he's actually meant something to someone. Jack Kelly has made quite a name for himself among the newises, scabs, and bulls alike, that much is undeniable. But at the end of the day, fame isn't what has mattered to him. It's the mark that he's left behind. It's the lives he's helped to make better, more livable. It's the family he's formed.

Still, Jack can't escape the reality that he needs to start thinking of himself, for perhaps the first time in his life. Even now, he knows with undying certainty that he's going to marry Katherine someday. The meager pay of the newsies couldn't possibly allow him to afford even a wedding cake, let alone an entire wedding. Not only that, but there's also the fact that he is beginning to feel guilty about his extended stay at the lodging house.

Sure, he's mostly lived there out of necessity, and to watch over the boys, but he's not a child, or even a teenager anymore. There must be a kid out there somewhere who needs Jack's bed much more than he does now, and it kills him to think that he's keeping that kid from having an actual place to sleep at night. And so he does something about it.

There's an apartment about fifteen minutes walking distance that has been bought in his name, paid for with a combination of Jack's own hard-earned cash (what's so great about Santa Fe anyway?) and a more than generous donation from a Miss Katherine Pulitzer.

Jack had insisted that he could cover the costs well enough on his own-after all, he's made do with much less before-but Katherine would have none of it, arguing that she'd still be stuck in the entertainment rut if it hadn't been for him (which of course means so much more than the words imply), and it's the least she could do.

_No_, Jack thinks to himself, _the least you could do is buy two papes for a penny from me and never look in my direction again. _That's what all the other girls in her high-society circles would have done. But Katherine is different, more perceptive than anyone else he's ever met. And stubborn, stubborn enough to rival even Racetrack.

So he lets her have her way, and allows her to help move what little he owns into the new place. All the little details have been taken care of, and the apartment is ready for him to move in at his leisure.

Now Jack stands at the door to the lodging house, preparing to open it and step into the new chapter of his life, and it is only the faces of his brothers that keep him from pulling on the handle.

"Well, fellas, this is it," he sighs, casting his eyes downward for a moment before gathering his nerve enough to look at them again. They're all gathered around him, watching as Jack searches for the right words to say.

"It's been fun, Jackie," Race comes to his aid, stepping forward to earnestly shake his hand. They've had a close bond, one that's formed from being in a similar age range, and Jack smiles gratefully at him for certainly not the first time. Race has been both a pain in his neck and his right hand man for years, and sometimes Jack wonders what he would have done without the other boy and his cigar.

"Try not ta miss us too much," Mush adds, and Jack merely rolls his eyes at the statement.

"C'mon guys, I ain't even gonna be that far away...I'll still see you'se on the streets all the time," he reminds them, but still the boys retain that almost unbearable sad expression on their faces. He knows what they're thinking, and he agrees- once he walks out that door, it just won't be the same.

Yes, they'll still be a family, that aspect won't ever change. But it will be different with Jack gone from the lodging house, different for all of them.

"We'll be lookin' for ya," Specs assures him, even pushing up his glasses for effect, and Jack laughs briefly before sighing again, his courage still taking time to develop. Five more minutes. That's all he will allow himself. Five minutes, and then he's gone.

But of course, the boys just can't make it easy for him, and each insist on leaving him with their own personal parting words.

"Make sure ya keep track of your buttons, they'se is easy ta lose." Buttons, of course, finds it necessary to live up to his name one last time. Little does Jack remind him that he had been the one to give Buttons that advice in the first place.

"If ya ever need ta borrow a slingshot, you know where ta find me." Finch reminds him with a wink and tip of his hat.

"I can give ya cookin' lessons wheneva you want-Katherine, too!" Henry offers with the same enthusiasm he always displays whenever food is involved.

"Lemme know if you'se is ever headin' over ta Brooklyn, I got some business with Spot." Tommy Boy informs him solmenly, and Jack promises to inform him the minute he's heading in that direction.

"Can I have your bunk? Mine squeaks all the time." Jojo asks, and what else can Jack do but say yes? The smile that spreads across the boy's face is something Jack knows he'll miss the most.

"We'll be seein' wedding invites soon, won't we?" Albert raises his eyebrows knowingly, and Jack does nothing but smirk in return. He's not giving anything away just yet.

Each newsie leaves him with something unique, just as he's expected, but Jack isn't prepared for when Romeo of all people wraps his arms around his torso.

"We're gonna miss you, Jack," the youngest newie whispers, as though he doesn't want the others to hear him in his apparent moment of weakness. Jack hugs him back before ruffling his hair, a habit he's grown accustomed to with Romeo. The boy hates it, refusing to be reminded of his own youth, and so Jack does it as often as he can.

"I'm gonna miss you'se too, kid, don't worry," he reassures Romeo just as quietly, gazing over the boy's shoulder to make eye contact with the rest of them-and then he sees Crutchie.

His best friend stands at the back of the room, clutching something tight against his chest as he watches the scene in front of him. Jack slowly makes his way toward him, realizes as he crosses the room that this is the moment he has been dreading the most. How could he say goodbye to Crutchie?

"Crutch, I-"

"You almost forgot this," the disabled boy cuts him off before Jack can even begin, thrusting out the book he's holding into Jack's hands. He quickly indentifies it as his sketchbook, the worn cover and torn pages just as familiar as they were yesterday. "Left it on the roof-I mean, the penthouse."

"Thanks..." Jack murmurs, somehow even more speechless than he was a moment ago. Of course Crutchie wouldn't let him leave without something as important as this.

"Um...maybe you should look inside. I-In the back," his little brother suggests, his voice trembling even as he manages a smile. Jack does as he's instructed, his jaw dropping a little at what he finds on the last page.

It's a sketch, a rough drawing of Jack himself staring up at him. His head is a bit too big for his body, and his hat is a bit awkwardly shaped, but it's a sure sign of talent all the same. Who knows how long Crutchie has worked on this? Jack really has no idea; with all the commotion, he hasn't touched his sketchbook in days.

"Woah...this is amazin'!" Jack exclaims, his eyes wide as his face breaks out into a grin. He's flattered, he's impressed, he's bombarded with so many conflicting emotions that it's hard to focus in on just one.

"Ah, it ain't that good. But don't mention it," Crutchie ducks his head modestly, his own sheepish smile adorning his features. But Jack doesn't miss the faint shining of tears under his lashes, and he wraps his life-long friend in an embrace.

"Thank you, Crutchie. It means a lot," Jack fights to keep the shaking out of his own voice as he lets go of Crutchie, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Do me proud, kid, alright?"

"Alright, Jack." Crutchie nods firmly, determination written clearly on his face. He takes a deep breath before his next words. "We'll see ya soon."

"You bet, fellas. For sure," Jack swears to them, all of them, and with that promise comes the strength he needs to walk the distance back the door in what feels like one stride. He's not abandoning them, not by a long shot. That is the one thing he could never do, no matter what the circumstance. And he's confident that the boys know this. He puts his hand on the doorknob and turns, the sunshine from outside filtering into the lodging house.

Jack Kelly glances back at the boys, his family, as he stands at the threshold between life old and new. The future lies before him, uncertain, and yet he's sure of just one thing.

He's not gone for good. He's just saying goodbye for now.

* * *

**Newsies forever, second to none. **


End file.
